Second Amendment rally

As politicians rush to do something about gun violence, they advocate many proposals proven to have no effect on public safety or criminals, but will affect the ability of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.
New gun laws such as those passed in New York and Connecticut will not save lives. What laws do criminals follow? Only deterrents and obstacles that deny opportunity can prevent violent crimes.
How many of us wish a police officer had been in Sandy Hook Elementary, or that one of those brave teachers who died protecting children had a conceal carry license, or access to a firearm in biometric safe?
The Obama doctrine, espoused by his former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, of "Never letting a crisis go to waste," has relied on deceptive language and imagery and resulted in hastily passed and poorly written laws.
Most people who are not gun owners have little idea what law-abiding gun owners must know, or go through to exercise their God-given and natural rights to possess a firearm. I invite everyone to attend the Protect Our Children and the Second Amendment Rally on the West Springfield Town Common on April 19 from 3 to 7 p.m. to learn or hear more.
It bothers me that politicians and media describe common firearms as "assault weapons" and attempt to confuse popular semi-automatic rifles with military machine guns. An AR-15 is a common hunting rifle that looks like a military rifle. In fact, the AR-15, a civilian .223 caliber semi-automatic rifle, existed for years before the military adapted its' cosmetic design to produce the military M-16. An M-16 is an air cooled, gas powered fully automatic rifle. Even the program "Frontline" falsely claimed the AR-15 was developed from the M-16.
Lawmakers and the media use deceptive language referring to standard capacity magazines, as "high capacity." Anyone who studied debate in school knows when you use your opponent's language, you will lose. When did our elected leaders and media become the opponent of law-abiding Americans?
If restricting gun ownership resulted in less violence, then Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel would lead a safer city, instead of the murder capital of America.
Dan Allie
Westfield